Fatty acids found in fish could help treat asthma patients
Asthma treatment
Given the large numbers of free fatty acid 4 receptors in the lungs, we wondered if proto-medicines (synthetic chemicals that activate free fatty acid 4 receptor) would work just as well as beta agonists at opening up the airways and might also reduce inflammation in the lungs.
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We first tested these chemicals on both living mice and in lung tissue samples. Initially, we found that activators of free fatty acid receptor 4 did indeed open up airways that had become constricted in the lungs of mice. However, in mice whose DNA we altered to lack free fatty acid receptor 4, these proto-medicines didn’t work.
We then wanted to know whether these compounds also worked effectively if we induced an asthma-like state in the mice. We did this by making them breathe the air-pollutant ozone, or making them inhale cigarette smoke. Both of these are known to induce asthma attacks in humans. Again, we saw that in the mice that had free fatty acid receptor 4, the proto-medicines opened up the airways. They had no effect in mice that did not have the receptor.
Of course, mice are not humans – and if our initial observations are to have the potential to point towards a new treatment for asthma and other diseases that affect the airways such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, we needed to show that free fatty acid receptor 4 is also present in human lungs.
Using tissue samples from human lungs, we found that free fatty acid receptor 4 was also present – and that the proto-medicines which activate the receptor were able to relax the human lung and airways.
Now, we’ll need to show that such treatments are equally effective in airway tissue from patients suffering from asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or other related diseases. We’ll need to show that we can produce improved versions of the proto-medicines that will be safe for use. It will also be necessary to demonstrate that they will be effective in alleviating the broncho-constriction than leaves people struggling for breath.
All interesting possibilities, considering we started out by wondering how eating a portion of salmon for dinner might be good for you.
This article is republished fromThe ConversationbyGraeme Milligan, Gardiner Professor of Biochemistry and Dean of reserach, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences,University of GlasgowandAndrew Tobin, Professor of Molecular Pharmacology,University of Glasgowunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
Story byThe Conversation
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